Amazon Echo and Alexa Skills Freelance Developer
Amazon Alexa / Echo brings voice based artificial intelligence into homes and businesses. YouGov suggest that by 2022 48% of UK households will own smart devices.
Benefits to your business of a voice app / skill on Amazon Alexa include:-
- Customers can talk to your business 24/7
- Wider contact footprint
- Greater understanding of customer intent than other contact channels
- 100% intimate customer interactions
- Call To Actions consistently applied
- More complex implementations allow the possibility to analyse customer sentiment
If you are a business in Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and the West Yorkshire area in the UK, now is the best time to build your business presence on Amazon Alexa / Echo with the help of a local voice application developer.
Alexa Skill Conversation Design
Building a skill / voice app for Amazon Alexa is all about designing conversations. These conversations can include simple questions and answers, or more complex, multi step dialogs.
At the centre of an Alexa app is something called a Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine, which is responsible for matching speech to text and deriving user intent. Lex by Amazon is the NLP engine used for Alexa / Echo apps, and is where your conversations are stored.
Brand Security on Amazon Alexa and Echo
One of the primary reasons for developing a skill for Amazon Alexa is to secure something called the 'invocation phrase', which is the phrase users say to their Alexa / Echo device to start your skill.
A typical invocation for an Alexa skill would be "Alexa, talk to 'Some Business Name'". If your business name is common then you may find this phrase has already been claimed. The good news is that as part of the skill submission process you have to validate that you own the brand linked to your invocation phrase.
Integrating an Alexa Skill Into Your Business
Some of the conversations you want in your Alexa / Echo voice app may require dynamic information from other sources such as pricing or stock availability etc. It is possible to link your app to custom services that provide this level of detail to your conversations. You may opt for a basic service, or something more complex like a business brain.
Services You May Want to Consider In Your Alexa / Echo Skill
So what kinds of conversations can your business offer in an Alexa skill? The answer to this question is limited only by the availability of your business information. The following is a list of services you should consider:-
- Product or Service Info (menus, colour variations, sizes, availability etc)
- Opening / Closing Times
- Inventory Levels and Lead Times
- Latest Company News
- Basic Questions and Answers
- Brochure Requests
- Reservations
One of the key benefits of designing conversations upfront is the ability to build in Call to Actions where buying signals are strongest. This ability means that for every service you offer you can introduce a call to action into the conversation - these will be consistently applied 24/7 !
Example Alexa Skill for Business
For an example of an Alexa / Echo skill for business, watch the following video and read more about a project for an online virtual online tours company called 360Jungle.
What About a Google Home App?
One of the key benefits of creating a skill for Amazon Alexa is that the same conversation structure can be used to build a voice app for Google Home, so you may want to consider investing a little extra and getting two apps for minimal extra cost.
What Should I do Next?
If you are business based in Leeds, Halifax or Huddersfield and surrounding areas in West Yorkshire, UK and are looking for a local freelance Amazon Alexa / Echo skill developer then get in touch for a no obligation chat about your requirements.